RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Today for lunch they gave us a big bowl of pasta, rice with anchovies and seaweed squished into a ball, and dduk covered in that spicy sauce. I need more variety than that. 

we had samgyetang juk (ginseng chicken porridge/aka my favorite korean lunch soup)

Met a new person today and she held on to my hand for an uncomfortably long period of time.  Like well after introductions and some brief small talk.  Didn't drop my hand until departing.       

I just kept smiling awkwardly. 

Today for lunch they gave us a big bowl of pasta, rice with anchovies and seaweed squished into a ball, and dduk covered in that spicy sauce. I need more variety than that. 

I made the right decision in opting out of lunch (except at my once a week country school). School lunches are gross pretty much everywhere in the world.

Actually my school lunches are pretty gourmet. No kidding. I don't eat them anymore because teachers get unlimited servings and I gained a ton of weight from it...lol

Example:
Bimbimbap self bar buffet. Make your own bibimbap with more than a dozen different fresh ingredients.
Fried chicken day with freshly made (not frozen) french fries, salad (the dressing options are still gross though), macaroni salad
Spaghetti and meat ball day
Sweet and Sour pork
etc.

Today for lunch they gave us a big bowl of pasta, rice with anchovies and seaweed squished into a ball, and dduk covered in that spicy sauce. I need more variety than that. 

I made the right decision in opting out of lunch (except at my once a week country school). School lunches are gross pretty much everywhere in the world.

My lunches at my new main school are a level above my former main school (now travel). That and they give me a lot more of the good stuff, less of the fillers. Their ingredients seem to be of a higher quality as well, ie. the meat seems to have a lot less cartilage and fat on it.

  CO2, we need to go through 4 pages fast today to catch up.

  Agreed.

  Proceeds to waste inordinate amounts of time in class on frivolities.

My biggest gripe with lunches here is when they use too much sauce / ketchup / sugar poison.

Today we had delicious eggs, and they covered it with a big dollop of ketchup. Gross.

Or like when they'll give you fish that MIGHT be delicious, but it's covered in fried batter and sticky sugar poison sauce.

Or chicken with sauce. Sauce is gross. Ew.

If they had more seafood and vegetables and stuff that wasn't either fried meat or glucose trash, I'd feel better.

 

lately our most "special" meal has a boiled sweet potato that everyone peeled and ate like a banana. i said no thanks!

I... don't get it. Who doesn't like sweet potatoes? They're literally one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and they taste awesome.

But... but... they're sweet! Doesn't that make them poisonous filth???? 

lately our most "special" meal has a boiled sweet potato that everyone peeled and ate like a banana. i said no thanks!

I... don't get it. Who doesn't like sweet potatoes? They're literally one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and they taste awesome.

You always seem shocked and confused when someone has an opinion or experience that differs from you.

Personally I find starchy vegetables grown in Korean to have this weird consistency. Potatoes especially. Like chalk. A horticulturalist at a uni i used to work at explained it that the soil here has been fertilized in a certain way for so many thousands of years to grow primarily rice and so certain root veges have a certain taste or texture that may not suit everyone. I dont know if that's true. I was dubious at that time. But what do i know.

lately our most "special" meal has a boiled sweet potato that everyone peeled and ate like a banana. i said no thanks!

I... don't get it. Who doesn't like sweet potatoes? They're literally one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and they taste awesome.

To be fair, I prefer the orange sweet potatoes from back home.  I find the sweet potatoes here to be a bit dry, comparatively, and not as sweet. 

lately our most "special" meal has a boiled sweet potato that everyone peeled and ate like a banana. i said no thanks!

I... don't get it. Who doesn't like sweet potatoes? They're literally one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and they taste awesome.

Kumara (sweet potato) is disgusting to me. Whenever I taste it, it makes me want to barf. D:
I like sweet foods too!

  I find the sweet potatoes here to be a bit dry,

Yes. Try to make a decent mash with them and it can be a bit a challenge to get nice consistency.

I used to like sweet potatoes, until they became a staple of everything here.

So I had to move 2 students from a table because they were being bothered with the student in front and he wouldn't turn around. I told him multiple times and he just said he didn't want to in Korean.  So then this kid was literally pushing a desk behind him into other students.
Even after I had to sit on the desk to stop him from moving it he continued to try and push the desk into the other students.

I have never wanted to hurt a child before but this punk 5th grader made me  pissed. I wish kids got sent to the principal like when I was in school. Some of the 5th graders in this school are the worst kids I have ever taught with behaviour. Woooo saaaaaa 

I also don't peel the sweet potatoes, or any potatoes for that matter. A lot of the nutritional benefits are in the peel, and I like the peel, so I eat the whole thing. I used to get a few looks, but they don't pay me much mind anymore.

I also don't peel the sweet potatoes, or any potatoes for that matter. A lot of the nutritional benefits are in the peel, and I like the peel, so I eat the whole thing. I used to get a few looks, but they don't pay me much mind anymore.

I know that heavy metal contamination in the tubers is a serious problem in Korea due to many of the tubers being cultivated in contaminated soil near former mines, etc.

I always believed that removing the skins would help, but recent studies have indicated that they are not any more or less dangerous, so long as they are "baked" (not sure what boiling does).

Anyway, we will all die from something, sooner or later.

I also don't peel the sweet potatoes, or any potatoes for that matter. A lot of the nutritional benefits are in the peel, and I like the peel, so I eat the whole thing. I used to get a few looks, but they don't pay me much mind anymore.

I know that heavy metal contamination in the tubers is a serious problem in Korea due to many of the tubers being cultivated in contaminated soil near former mines, etc.

I always believed that removing the skins would help, but recent studies have indicated that they are not any more or less dangerous, so long as they are "baked" (not sure what boiling does).

Anyway, we will all die from something, sooner or later.

What about the skin on grapes? Contaminated with pesticide etc or safe?

I also don't peel the sweet potatoes, or any potatoes for that matter. A lot of the nutritional benefits are in the peel, and I like the peel, so I eat the whole thing. I used to get a few looks, but they don't pay me much mind anymore.

I know that heavy metal contamination in the tubers is a serious problem in Korea due to many of the tubers being cultivated in contaminated soil near former mines, etc.

I always believed that removing the skins would help, but recent studies have indicated that they are not any more or less dangerous, so long as they are "baked" (not sure what boiling does).

Anyway, we will all die from something, sooner or later.

I read your first part and thought of the bold part, but you already said it. It very well may be a bit worse, but I doubt that if the most of my concerns. I think sometimes it is best to just keep on doing and not worry about the rest. Anyway, as for the potarders, I would imagine, with my reasoning (?), maybe if you boil them with a steamer tray in the pot, then let them sit, heavy metals could release and then sink to the bottom. I doubt all of it will really mean much in the scheme of things unless you're eating tubers on the steady though. Also, just a question, is the validity of the "organic" section the same here as just about anywhere else? I mean, I wonder if organic here would mean that they have had tests for heavy metals in the soil, not only whether or not they use certain pesticides, etc.

I'm sure you are being funny, but when I first arrived in 20+ years ago, you would be hard pressed to find a Korean who would eat the skins on their locally grown grapes due to pesticide usage.

No idea about today, though.